"In order to cope with the world, you have to be able to translate from one language to another — from or to a visual language, a kinetic language, an aural language. You have to be able to translate what you see into what you say and do."

When devising instructional strategies it's often best to begin with objectives involving verbal information, and this typically includes defining terms. Use caution when doing this because you may be removing the context required to make those definitions meaningful. It can be more difficult for learners to store such information in memory, and retrieving it can depend upon the presence of contextual cues. Learners may also find that learning verbal information out of context is irrelevant and boring. It is best to learn definitions in a way that involves several forms of stimulation, and not solely verbal ones. Viewing images with audible commentary is more engaging, for instance, and mixing these with the activity of browsing ArtLex provides an additional richness to a study that might be otherwise rather dry .

1 — . . Make
a list of terms students will need to know in your class, and distribute of this list. You may even post it on a Web page. Assign studies of ArtLex articles
concerning terms on your list on a schedule relevant
to the course. Assess students'
understanding of terms at intervals. If you like, such assessments
can be in any of several quickly scored formats — multiple-choice, matching, or short-answer perhaps. But the real payoff comes when you find your students' art conversations betray their increased sophistication in a richer art vocabulary.

2— . . Assign
the reading of art texts relevant to the class — specific chapters,
articles, pages, etc. As part of the assignment, tell each student
to select (highlight) ___ (a number of) words that are either
especially important to the text, new to the student, or difficult
to understand. Expect each student to submit a printed report
about the terms they've chosen. In this report, each student
will assemble three pieces about each term: (1) quote one or
more portions of the assigned text in which the term is used
[cite the location of that portion], then (2) quote an article
defining the term (as found in ArtLex, or another reference
if it's not found in ArtLex), and (3) draw conclusions
that demonstrate good reasoning and deep understanding of the
assigned text. Additionally, students should feel free to argue
for or against points made by the writer of the text.

3— . . Copy,
print, and hand out articles from ArtLex (add copyright
credits, citing "with permission . . . ") concerning
each of several art terms you would like students to prepare
to discuss in small groups either during or outside of class.
Assign each student to write a paper listing the most important
points raised by those discussions, along with any points that
student feels should have been made that were not. Tell students
you expect their writings to support or defend each of the claims
they make by citing reasons / evidence / examples.

4— . . Many
articles in ArtLex include a number of relevant great
quotations — these articles include quotes about:

Just as you ask students to describe, analyze
and evaluate various works of art, employ great quotations as
starting points for class discussions or writing assignments.
Ask students to respond to questions or challenges you pose.
Three examples: "Discuss the meaning of this quotation:
' . . . .'" or "Argue in favor or against the author's
point of view," or "Apply this point of view to a discussion
of _____________ [ works of a particular artist / movement /
period / genre / material / technique, etc.]"

5— . . You are used to showing students artworks by certain
artists, or of certain eras, from movements, showing the use of media, techniques,
ideas, etc. Assign students to find and show you works that demonstrate
their understanding. Ask students to look in ArtLex (or
search on the Web) for such images and information -- expect
them to list (for each image they cite) the name of the artist
(when known), his/her nationality and dates, each work's title,
date, medium, dimensions, and provenance, in addition to other
contextual information, their opinions, etc.

7— . . World Wide Vocabulary
is a lesson plan for a middle school visual arts class, written
by Ms. Denise Holly-Tullier, Art Educator, Southeastern Louisiana
University, Laboratory School, Hammond, LA. This plan was published
on the Web as one of several for a program in Louisiana: "Literacy
& Learning: Reading in the Content Areas," simultaneously
with a video broadcast by Louisiana Public Broadcasting in 1999.
The plan specifies the lesson's topic, objectives, a set induction,
numerous activities, closure, an assessment, resources, materials,
other applications, and a "Vocabulary Activity Sheet."
(The above link is to a .PDF formatted file that can be viewed
only with the free Acrobat Reader software. Alternatively a
less handsomely formatted HTML version can be viewed via Google.com.)

8— . . Use
of ArtLex is integral to many educators' art lessons that
have been posted on the Web.

Planning Art Lessons,
a plan for writing lesson plans for undergraduate students in
art education, includes links to ArtLex for help finding
artists on the web and information about using their images,
by Marvin Bartel, Goshen College, IN, 2001.

The Web is growing into the best teaching
and learning resource next to books. Students who have grown up
with computers and the Internet have found the shift to Internet-based
learning easy and attractive. In fact teenagers now rely more
on the Internet than their library for research. With the availability
of ArtLex and other Internet resources, you can expect
students to:

study more of the kinds of information
you can point them to -- more about which your school expects
students to be knowledgeable.

use computers highly productively.

spend less money on buying textbooks!

ArtLex
helps students to understand the language in which works are discussed
by their instructors and classmates, art
historians and critics,
as well as by the artists themselves. Users explore this online
resource via art-related terms, finding definitions, supporting
images, pronunciation notes, and related links
for further information.

The site is extremely easy to use. A user
needs only the most basic web site operation skills. A basic understanding
of art terminology is helpful, because visitors must use it as
starting points from which to find information. Instructions and
navigational links for employing ArtLex are all found on
its home page.
The alphabetical index and shortcuts are always visible in a separate
frame on the left while viewing any article within the site. There
is a search engine on the
home page, but articles can also be found via the navigational
links, and there are numerous cross-referencing links embedded
in the text — links to other definitions and examples. Going
off on tangents to discover related issues is especially satisfying
because they increase understanding. The many visual examples
that support definitions are strong content in themselves.

ArtLex
serves as a portal to related sites. It provides numerous links
to many resources beyond ArtLex's boundaries. Clicking
a link to an external site makes the visitor's browser display
the destination on a new page. That is particularly helpful when
an image or text on the new page would be best seen alongside
a page in ArtLex. Your students can make excellent use
of ArtLex's external links in their research.

Page layouts have been designed to be consistent,
easy to read, and attractive to the eye. The images used in ArtLex
are large enough to view, but not so large that they take much
time to load. No technical support should be needed.

ArtLex
can be useful as a means to establishing agreement on the meaning
of terms you and your students need to use in common. Disagreements
over semantics can either be opportunities for intellectual growth
— academically stimulating indeed — or they can be a waste of
time, and really annoying!

As in any art educational setting, online
or otherwise, visitors to ArtLex should be aware that nudity,
politics, and other controversial issues have long been topics
in the art world, and this online dictionary presents and offers
greater understanding of images and ideas dealing with the wide
range of art topics.

If you operate a website as part of your
educational activities, you may wish to place links to ArtLex
on your site. You have our encouragement to do so.

ArtLex has definitions in English
for thousands of terms used in visual culture, along with images
of examples, pronunciation notes, great quotations, and cross-references.
ArtLex is a great resource for students who need to research
information about art production, history, aesthetics, and education.

You are welcome to quote up to a dozen articles
from ArtLex across your entire site. ArtLex expects
you to cite it at any quote of its content, crediting its author,
noting his copyright. We ask that you post a link to <http://www.artlex.com>
on each page where ArtLex is quoted. If you wish to quote
more than a dozen articles, ArtLex expects you to contact
delahunt(at)artlex.com
, its
author, to license content for the manner in which you'll use
it. Please email your proposal to him.

You may post an ArtLex logo on your
site as a link to artlex.com. Several ArtLex logos are
displayed below.

When you and your students have simultaneous
access to the Internet as your class is meeting (this time is
coming, if it hasn't for you yet), there will be all the more
reasons to employ ArtLex for your students' learning.

There are many new directions we'll be taking
ArtLex, and we'd be delighted to know what ideas occur
to you. Please send questions / comments / suggestions for additions
and changes to
delahunt(at)artlex.com

ArtLex invites you to submit your
link

If you establish a link to ArtLex on your
educational site, ArtLex may post a link to your site.

Because all the major search engines index
links found in ArtLex, and more than a thousand people visit ArtLex
every day, a link here will increase the number of visitors to
your site.